IRVINE – With 14.5 seconds remaining and his team suddenly trailing UC Santa Barbara by a point, UC Irvine coach Russell Turner drew up an out-of-bounds play that supplied a handful of different scoring options.

When the first (a quick basket underneath) and second (a short jump shot) fell through the cracks, the third wound up working just fine.

UCI forward Michael Wilder — who had missed all four of his 3-point attempts — drilled a wide-open 3-pointer to supply the difference in a 62-60 Big West victory on Saturday at Bren Center.

"(Michael) Bryson hit that big shot before, so I told myself that if the ball came to me, it needed to go in," said Wilder, who finished with seven points. "My teammates have trust in me, and when I shot it, it felt good, and it went in."

On the possession before, UCSB —- which had trailed by 20 — took its first lead since 3-2 on a short hook shot by Bryson (12 points).

A culmination of the magnificent second half played by the visitors, Bryson's shot capped a 9-0 spurt that overtook UCI (12-11, 6-4) and its once-comfortable lead.

"You don't see it often in college, but you see it a lot in the pros; big leads going away," said Turner, whose team squandered an eight-point advantage with just over five minutes remaining. "When you play with a big lead, sometimes you don't have that same edge.

"Give Santa Barbara credit, they have a lot of kids like ours; kids who play with a lot of heart."

Inbounding the ensuing possession, Chris McNealy hit Adam Folker on the right corner of the free-throw line. When three defenders collapsed, Folker passed the ball right back to McNealy.

"I thought that with the way we ran the play and where we ran our shooters, C-Mac (McNealy) was going to get an open shot, which he did," Turner said.

Passing on the shot attempt, however, McNealy dribbled to the center of the free-throw line and into a cluster of players. Swinging around to the right elbow was Wilder, who hit the winner with 8.7 seconds left.

"It's not a surprise to see Michael hit that shot," Turner said. "He hasn't shot the ball that well this season compared to previous seasons, but he has as much character and poise as anyone I've ever seen.

"You have to have pure heart to make that shot."

Trailing 62-60, UC Santa Barbara (7-14, 3-7) had a crack at winning in the closing seconds, but a long 3-point try by Kyle Boswell (15 points) drew front iron.

"We know we have to win these games at home to stay in position," said Turner, whose Anteaters also defeated Cal Poly SLO at home Wednesday. "We knew we had to play better against teams that beat us before, and that's what we did.

"We won two tough, close games late, and that's the most important thing."

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